We’ve come to the end of the AIM season… well over 150 concerts! Looking back on all those performances, we want to share one of our favorite parts of our AIM show with you… the question-and-answer portion. The students’ questions were always interesting and often amusing. Kyle did a great job of emceeing for us. Here are some of the most common, a couple of unexpected and the number one question of all…

We were asked these a lot…
How old are the instruments?
How old are you?
How long have you been a group?
How did you meet?
How long have you been playing?
How much do your instruments cost?
Is the bassoon heavy?

These two were unique and made us think for a minute…
If you could each play a different instrument, what would it be? (Interestingly, we all answered cello.)

Where did the word “music” come from originally? During our show the students learn the word for music in five languages. One student came up with this compelling question. (The word music comes from the Greek mousa and is derived from the word muse.)

And the #1 question asked…
Why does Armando keep his hand in the bell of the horn?

Like we said at the end of every show, “We’d like to thank the San Francisco Symphony AIM program and we’d like to thank the students for being such a great audience!” Thank you, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders of San Francisco! We had a great time performing for you all!

Quinteto Latino

On Sunday April 18, we will be performing a private event for Chamber Music San Francisco.  The wonderful Chamber Music San Francisco presents world class chamber musicians from all over the world.

On Friday April 16, we will be in San Jose performing for the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture at a private event.  This amazing organization promotes the advancement of Latino art and artists throughout the United States.

Date March 17, 2010
Shows 69 – 70
Schools Frank McCoppin Elementary

We are more than halfway done with the 130+ performances we are playing for the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music Program. This morning we were at Frank McCoppin Elementary School in the inner Richmond District. We had a great time at this school: everyone clapped, snapped and waved along right in time – fun!

One of the pieces we perform is a fugue by the famous Argentinian composer, Astor Piazzolla. Leslie, our clarinetist, explains the concept of community first – how the kids’ classes are communities, their school is a community… there are communities in so many places. We all build community by talking and working together, when we give everyone a chance to speak and express themselves. Piazzolla’s fugue, Calambre, shows one way that we build the community of Quinteto Latino. The musicians in the group work together, each having a chance to express themselves by stating the fugue subject, adding each of their voices to the piece. First the piccolo plays, then the clarinet, then the oboe and finally the horn and bassoon coming in together.

At the end of our program at each school, we always make time for the students to ask questions or, sometimes, make comments. During the question/comment time at this school one of the students had some great ideas about what exactly each musical voice in the quintet was “saying” while performing this piece. This is what he heard:

“When Diane started on the piccolo, it made me think she was saying ‘Do you like my idea?’ When Leslie entered next on the clarinet, she was telling Diane ‘Yeah, I like that idea. Yeah, I like it more than you do!’ Kyle’s entrance said ‘Me too.’ Armando on the French horn said ‘Look out, an earthquake is coming!’ and Charles on the bassoon said ‘The playground is damaged!’”

It’s amazing how clear that story was to that student and how he really heard the piece as a conversation between individuals, expressing themselves.

Date March 16, 2010
Shows 63 – 68
Schools George R. Moscone Elementary & Edison Charter Academy

Today was an exciting AIM day for Quinteto Latino. We did our show three times at George R. Moscone Elementary in the Mission District and then moved on to do two shows at Edison Charter Academy in Noe Valley.

Five-show days are the longest, most exhilarating AIM days but today was a little extra exhilarating because we had a special guest at our first school… Michael Tilson Thomas! Yes, the world-famous conductor of the San Francisco Symphony came and sat with fourth graders (they on the floor, he in a chair) to hear us perform our show about music from around the world. We and everyone at the symphony were thrilled that he was able to take time to attend our performance that morning at 9:00am, the day before he was leaving for a tour with the orchestra.

Here is what he wrote to us later in the day:

What an extraordinary treat it was to see Quinteto Latino at the Moscone School. The level of professionalism, the care in the preparation of the program, the engagement with the children and the content covered was just tremendous. I was so happy to be there and so proud of the AIM program.

Thank you and congratulations,
MTT

We had a great time chatting with him for a bit after our performance. We’re thrilled he was able to see Adventures in Music, Quinteto Latino and the students together in action!

Date February 9, 2010
Day 13
Schools Fairmont Elementary
Number of Concerts 33 & 34

One of the fun bits in our AIM show that involves the students is Astor Piazzolla’s famous Libertango. We first teach the children a rhythm on the instruments that they brought with them: their hands and legs! They perform the rhythm by clapping and tapping their legs: Clap, Tap-Tap, Clap, Tap-Tap, etc. Then, we ask them to perform with us while we play Libertango. They’re the percussion section!

In their exuberance (which we love) the students’ rhythm often turns into Clap, SMACK-SMACK… Clap, SMACK-SMACK – a lot like a crowd at a basketball game (think “We Will, We Will Rock You.”) Last Tuesday at Fairmont Elementary School, Kyle, our oboist, had a breakthrough… replace leg tapping with finger snapping – not loud… trickier coordination so no more rushing… brilliant! But could such a simple solution really work? Yes!! Our second performance went beautifully. The students were able to do the rhythm perfectly, but their “percussion” never got loud enough to keep them from hearing and enjoying the music.

This is how our AIM show is always evolving… each school audience is a little different but when problems emerge repeatedly that we need to address it’s a great feeling when we can find a brilliant solution.

Date January 25, 2010
Day 6
Shows 17 – 18
Schools Miraloma Elementary

Memorization

Date January 12, 2010
Day 1
Schools ER Taylor and Dr. William Cobb Elementary
Number of Concerts 4

This week we kicked off our 3rd season with the prestigious San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music (AIM) Program! As you might know, AIM is a music outreach and education program where they send 8 ensembles into
all the public schools of the San Francisco Unified School District – that’s about 75 elementary schools and 14,000 children in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades!

It was wonderful to once again see all the smiling faces! We open our show with a movement of Gyorgy Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles (1953). We explain to the children that a bagatelle is a short, fun piece of music. Wow, we had no idea how much these kids would love Ligeti, a Romanian 20th century composer. The kids were all laughs when they heard the high piccolo and the low bassoon.

Our Third Season

We are very fortunate to be part of the AIM program. Although we have 2 seasons under our belt, our first day on stage was still a bit nerve wracking. Would we remember our speeches, would we remember our music, would the kids like our show, would they think we were funny? Each and every concert is always full of surprises, we never know what to expect.

When we got to Cobb Elementary school in the afternoon, we closed our program with the song Jarabé Tapatio, aka “The Mexican Hat Dance” – We’ve played that song hundreds of times for children all over the Bay Area…and never once before today did the entire audience simultaneously break out into “olé!” after each phrase. It was wonderful and the kids just loved it.

That’s it for today, please check back regularly as we get into a routine in updating our Adventures with Adventures in Music.

Saturday, February 27, 2010
8:00 pm

Free – reception to follow

Community Music Center
544 Capp Street (click here for map/directions)
San Francisco, CA 94110

www.sfcmc.org

Dedicated to the classical and contemporary music of Latin America, Quinteto Latino brings its impeccable artistry and infectious energy to works of distinguished Mexican composers Carlos Chávez, Mario Lavista and Arturo Márquez.

Wheelchair Access:

Yes, Concert Hall

Español:

Si desea hablar con alguien en español, llame o venga por favor entre las 9 de la mañana hasta las 5 de la tarde, de martes a sabado. La persona que habla español se llama Tania Morales.

Parking:

New Mission Bartlett Garage
(21st Street, between Mission and Valencia Streets)

Public Transportation:

MUNI lines 14, 33 & 49
BART 16th or 24th Street Station

Program

Soli No. 2 – Carlos Chavez
Son de la bruja – Jose Luis Hurtado
Cinco danzas breves – Mario Lavista
Danza de mediodia – Arturo Marquez

We are excited to be part of the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program, our 3rd season! We will be sharing our experiences with you throughout the semester as we go to each and every public school in the San Francisco Unified School District. We’ll be performing for over 14,000 3rd-5th graders!

Stay Tuned

We kick off our season on January 11, 2010 at Jean Parker Elementary.

Welcome Rufus!

We are also excited to work with Rufus Olivier Jr III, our AIM bassoonist. He has graciously and effortlessly joined in with us while Shawn Jones works with the SF Ballet for a season.

AIM Rehearsal and DiscussionDecember 18, 2009